Customer Reviews

Chakras for Beginners: A Guide to Balancing Your Chakra Energies (For Beginners (Llewellyn's))

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

David Pond's book is an inspired text with highly practical information. Just like his other book "The Metaphysical Handbook", he provides the reader with rich information on the history and background of chakras while making this ancient healing system apply directly to the current cultural climate. He guides the reader playfully and honestly through each chapter in the ascending order of the chakras so the reader can build up with useful exercises and hands on material. I have studied chakras for many years in my work with clients in the health care field as a bodyworker and educator and found that David's book to be very accessible and a pleasure to use personally. I have numerous clients who have used the techniques in the book as well and report positive results. For anyone interested in working with yoga, energy systems or just want to feel better this is a must read!

David Pond says that "understanding the chakras is one of the most effective means of accessing the various levels of consciousness available to you." In Chakras for Beginners: A Guide to Balancing Your Chakra Energies, he describes the chakras and what it takes to keep them functioning properly.

Chakras are energy centers. Pond calls them the "batteries for the various levels of your life energy." Their source is the universal life force. Of the many chakras we each have, seven are considered as primary. These seven are in a straight line along the length of the spine. Any blocks or imbalances in the chakras can result in disease or emotional difficulties.

After discussing chakras in general, Pond devotes a chapter to each of the seven primary energy centers. He first describes the "drive" or purpose of each chakra. For example, the first chakra is concerned with survival, while the fourth chakra deals with the quest for love. He then discusses all the ways in which the chakra can be out of balance, including problems related to too much energy as well as difficulties stemming from too little energy. After explaining how to balance the chakra, Pond discusses how to keep it in balance.

Each chapter includes exercises designed to balance and maintain the individual chakras. He finishes with a section on special tips and techniques for activating the chakras. He also explains how colors and crystals can affect the chakras.

The last part of the book is a collection of essays about chakras. In those, he discusses subjects like kundalini, spirituality, and transmuting negative energy into a positive force. He also includes several meditations.

Pond's intention with Chakras for Beginners is to help people acquaint themselves "with the chakra system, how it works, and how it should operate optimally." Readers will find that he has provided all the information they need for understanding how to keep their chakras free of blockages or imbalances.

I really enjoyed this book. The author, David Pond, clearly knows his subject and with ease takes you on a journey through each chakra. As well as giving the traditional vital statistics for each, he augments this information with psychological, emotional, and intuitive perspectives. Accompanying each section are exercises and meditations for nourishing and balancing these energy centers. This book is well integrated, clear, and elicits a strong sense of how important self knowledge of the chakras is to our individual vitality, our society, and our planet as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed the essays towards the end of the book. These tied it all together and gave perspectives on how chakra energy is utilized at every moment of every day, at every level of our being. This book made the chakras come alive for me. They are no longer just a great metaphysical idea, but an integral element of our process of being. Thank you, David. Good work.

I have practiced yoga regularly for several years now, and this has led to an interest in exploring the chakras, the seven "energy centers" of the body. I was able to obtain some basic information online, but I wanted a book which would provide more details as well as exercises--hopefully incorporating yoga--which would focus on balancing the energy of the chakras. Happily, this book met my needs very well.

After offering an overview of the chakras and the importance of keeping them balance, author David Pond addresses each of the seven chakras individually. In particular, he describes both the balance and unbalanced perspectives of each chakra as well as offers several exercises both for connecting with that chakra and awakening the energy contained within. Some of the exercises do contain suggestions for yoga--i.e., performing tree pose to attain balance--but most of them are more meditative in nature.

In the second half of the book, Pond presents a selection of "Essays," which are basically short chapters (2-3 pages on average) about the relationship between the chakras and other issues, including the ego, vows, negative energy, visualization, and other similar topics. I found this section to be less helpful, as here, Pond's tendency towards new-age thinking (he is an astrologer by profession, after all) became a bit too much for my tastes. However, he concludes the book with additional exercises, meditations, and a chakra chart, all of which I found useful. All-in-all, this is a very nice introductory book about chakras which provides good basic information as well as easy-to-follow meditative exercises.

Having a slightly more than beginners knowledge of the chakras, I found this book to be a great introduction to the charkas. To me, it seemed as though he was writing to a female audience. This book is also good for pagans or non-pagans. Pond goes through all of the chakras and gives some meditations at the end. I found the chapters on the sixth and particularly the seventh chakras to be a bit confusing but perhaps that is the point - that they are hard to commit to paper.

The only criticism I have is that I wish there were more meditations. Other than that, I recommend purchasing for beginner / intermediate students

I bought this book last week, and loved the first part of it. David Pond has described all 7 chakras quite clear in this book, but I'm a bit disappointed about the lack of practising information. I mean... yeah sure, I knew what the Heart Chakra was after my first "exercise" and I've also tried that Yoga position, but it's more theory than practise. Too bad!

I have read many books on chakras, and this one really stands out in its ability to relay concepts with Simplicity and Clarity, which renders them more accessible to most readers. His meditations are pleasant, and I hope he writes more of them for us in the future.

Thank you, David Pond.

This is one of the best books i have ever read and is the best book on chakras ive read! David Pond wrote the book in a very friendly and readable manner. Each chakra has its own chapter and is broken down into very comprehendible exercises and explanations. Definitely a must read!

I am brand new to chakras, and after reading the reviews I thought this would be an excellent book to start with. I started reading it as soon as I received it. I was extremely disappointed. I MADE myself keep reading, until I was up to about the 5th chakra, and then decided I wouldn't torture myself anymore. I picked up another book I had ordered on chakras, started reading it, and was immediately fascinated by the subject. The other book was by Ambika Wauters, I think her introductory book, called The Book of Chakras; Discover the Hidden Forces Within You. The Book of Chakras: Discover the Hidden Forces Within You She is very informative. But the best part was, she's easy to understand, but doesn't talk like she's on the playground. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but I didn't like the style of this guy at all. After reading it, it just sounded like garbage to me. This book is very simplistic and informal; maybe I just need a more intellectual type approach, I don't know. I was looking for a beginner's book, but definitely not this one. I'm glad I got one that was really cheap!

Possibly, this book might be good for children. I guess I felt this was written more at a child's level; very minimal useful information is given, as far as I'm concerned. (I realize the author specifically says this is for beginners! But that's what I am!)

Well written and thorough, this book gives a good introduction to the chakras. For each he lists the core issue and drive. What would have been great is if he could list what physical ailments arise when a particular chakra is out of balance.

Overall a great introduction.